


You Can Run Away With Me (Anytime You Want)

by so_real



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: But just barely, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Kissing, Letters, M/M, Moonrise Kingdom au, Running Away, but its barely there at all!, no ned to have watched moonrise kingdom to understand, this is a bit sad but not too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24113134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/so_real/pseuds/so_real
Summary: Wes Anderson meets My Chemical Romance in a sort of Moonrise Kingdom AU (but not really) where Seonghwa has a bulletproof heart and Hongjoong has a hollow point smile and tells him he can run away with him anytime he wants
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 15
Kudos: 64





	You Can Run Away With Me (Anytime You Want)

**Author's Note:**

> hii im really excited by this bc moonrise kingdom is one of my fav films ever and ive always wanted to write an au inspired by it
> 
> this was loosely inspired by mcr's bulletproof heart and summertime, which are also two of my fav mcr songs
> 
> the title is from summertime, i hope you enjoy!
> 
> as always thankies to Micka and Mire

The first thing Hongjoong says to Seonghwa isn't _hello_ , it's not _what's your name?_ , or _what are you doing here?_. No, the first thing Hongjoong says to Seonghwa as he leans over the church pew Seonghwa is sitting on is:

"Do you want to run away with me?"

Seonghwa looks up from his book, startled, and his eyes meet a smile that's as sharp as it is hollow. Their town is so small that it only has a church, which also doubles as a theater and a meeting hall, and it's the place Seonghwa comes to when being at home becomes too suffocating and he needs to get away and feel like he can breathe again.

"I'm sorry?" he asks, politely, because it's the right thing to do, and the hollow smile grows in front of him.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" the boy asks, and Seonghwa takes in his delicate features that contrast starkly against his fiery red hair and eccentric clothes.

"I'm quite comfortable here, thank you," he replies, expecting the boy's smile to fall, but it stays on, undeterred. 

"I didn't mean  _ here  _ here, I meant this town," he explains. There are piercings lining his ears, glinting underneath the dim lights of the church, and Seonghwa feels drawn to him the same way he feels drawn to sharp objects or the fall of the cliffs near the sea. "I'm looking for someone to run away with me."

"Oh," Seonghwa says, because he'd never contemplated this possibility. "I don't know."

"That's fine," the boy says. His lips are always smiling, but his eyes aren't. "You can think about it."

"Okay," Seonghwa tells him, because he thinks he will. "How will I know where to find you, if I decide I want to?"

"Write to me," the boy tells him. "And leave your letter on the old hollow tree by the park."

Their town is so small it only has a park, two swings and a slide in a stretch of grass so dry it feels like it should be blown away with the breeze coming from the sea.

"Okay," Seonghwa says again, and the boy's smile grows. "What name should I write in the letter?"

"Hongjoong," the boy says, sharp smile cutting through his cheeks. 

Seonghwa nods. "I'm Park Seonghwa."

Hongjoong stands up, knocking on the wood of the pew a couple of times. "I look forward to your letter, Park Seonghwa. Don't forget, you can run away with me anytime you want."

And with that, he's gone, strolling down the aisle like he didn't just upend Seonghwa's world with nothing but a sentence and a smile.

* * *

Seonghwa sometimes thinks his heart is too guarded. Either that, or something is very, very wrong inside him.

Because he barely ever feels anything strongly. Where other people cry, and laugh and get angry, Seonghwa only ever seems to be able to express a fraction of their emotions. He feels happy, sure, and sad, and angry, and every other emotion he can think of, but never too much of it at once and never for too long. He even used to kiss the boys at his school to try and see if he felt the fireworks his books were always talking about, but all he ever felt was a dull spark.

It never feels that way with Hongjoong. He makes Seonghwa  _ feel _ in a way nothing or anyone has ever managed to do before.  _ Dear Seonghwa _ , he'll write, and Seonghwa feels like his feet aren't touching the ground anymore. His letters make Seonghwa laugh, they make him cry, make him want to burn the world down to ashes. He always ends them the same way:  _ Don't forget, you can run away with me anytime you want _ .

And Seonghwa does want to. The more he reads Hongjoong's letters, the more he wants to grab him and run away from this awful, little town. Because the town makes him feel like like he's choking, and Hongjoong is the only breath of air he's ever had. He never says it, though, always begins his letters with:  _ I will have to think about it some more, _ because despite everything, he's scared. Not in a paralyzing, terrible way, but in a gentle buzz that's more similar to uncertainty than it is to fear. He doesn't think his heart has the capacity to feel real fear.

His mother said his heart must be bulletproof, once, and he'd latched onto that idea. A bulletproof heart. He thinks it goes well with Hongjoong's hollow point smile. He tells that to Hongjoong on a letter once, and Hongjoong replies with a drawing of them, with Seonghwa's heart surrounded by a cage of bulletproof glass, and a sharp line drawn gruesomely over Hongjoong's face, mimicking a smile. Seonghwa keeps the drawing under his pillow, and stares at it when he feels like he can't breathe.

* * *

It's the middle of summer when Hongjoong sends the letter that finally makes him change his mind.

_ Dear Seonghwa _ , it reads.  _ My foster mom said she's going to kick me out if I don't remove my nail polish. She said it made me look like I was gay and that she doesn't want any gay kids in her home. Guess that's a pity, then, I really enjoyed the bed in this one. I will be at the field by the turnpike at three in the afternoon on Wednesday, meet me there if you want to come with me. Please, do want to run away with me. _

_ Love,  _

_ Hongjoong _ .

* * *

Seonghwa stares at Hongjoong and Hongjoong stares at Seonghwa across the field of dry grass.

Hongjoong is as bright as the first time he'd seen him, red hair and eccentric clothes and glittering piercings, and nails covered in a coat of pitch black polish. There's a backpack on his shoulders, and heavy boots on his feet, and bruises on his knees, and he squints against the blinding afternoon sun.

"What's in the suitcase?" he asks, and Seonghwa looks back at his own luggage.

What's in the suitcase? Some clothes, a toothbrush, a pair of binoculars, Hongjoong's drawing, a pair of scissors, some band-aids, his portable radio and some batteries.

"Stuff," he replies. "What's in the backpack?"

Hongjoong shrugs, smiling hollowly. "Stuff."

And Seonghwa smiles, too, in spite of himself.

They meet halfway, arms wrapping around each other in a hug that's a bit desperate, a bit crushing, a bit freeing. Hongjoong feels solid and warm against his body, and Seonghwa thinks he never wants to part from him.

"Which way are we going?" he asks, muffled by Hongjoong's hair.

"To the port," Hongjoong replies, his hands clutching Seonghwa's shirt.

Seonghwa nods. The port is at least a day away by foot, but he doesn't mind walking if it means he gets to be with Hongjoong. "Okay."

They walk.

Hongjoong laces his fingers with Seonghwa's at some point, and Seonghwa looks down at their entwined hands, feeling warmth spread from his head to his toes.

"Is it true that you kissed all those boys in highschool?" Hongjoong asks, trying to sound nonchalant, but Seonghwa sees the way his cheeks grow pink, and not from the sun.

"Yeah," he says, because it's true. "Maybe I'll kiss you too, just to try."

Hongjoong seems to consider it. "I would like it if you did not just to try."

Seonghwa looks at him. "I'll think about it."

Hongjoong smiles. "Good."

* * *

They stay the night in a deserted cove, eating candy bars that Hongjoong takes out of his backpack, and huddling together in front of the small fire they've managed to make. Seonghwa turns on his portable radio, and they listen to the songs it plays for a while.

"Where are we going, once we reach the port?" Seonghwa asks, leaning his head on Hongjoong's shoulder.

"I don't know," Hongjoong says, his fingers tracing patterns on his own knee, and then Seonghwa's. "As far away as we can, I guess."

Seonghwa thinks about it for a moment. "That sounds fair."

Hongjoong nods, and rests his chin on top of Seonghwa's head.

A few more minutes pass by before Seonghwa speaks up again. "Hongjoong?"

"Hm?" the other boy replies.

"I've thought about it," Seonghwa tells him. "I think I would also like to kiss you not just to try."

"Oh," Hongjoong breathes, he pulls away from Seonghwa. "Now?"

"Anytime you want," Seonghwa replies, and Hongjoong smiles, a bit less hollowly than usual, when he sees his own words used against him.

"Now is fine," he confirms. His cheeks are pink, and his eyes tremble, but he looks at Seonghwa like he has made his decision.

"Okay," Seonghwa mutters, and he leans in.

There's no fireworks when their lips meet, Seonghwa's warm and sure, Hongjoong's cool and cautious. Instead, there's the feeling of warmth spreading from Seonghwa's lips to the base of his spine. There's Hongjoong's breath, sweet and tasting like candy, fanning over Seonghwa's mouth in a sigh, and there are Hongjoong's hands, shaking where they come to frame Seonghwa's face. There's music playing gently as Hongjoong tentatively kisses him back, and there are the stars above them watching as Seonghwa's bulletproof heart shatters in his chest.

Hongjoong wipes away the first tear, and then the second, and the ones that come after. "Why?" he breathes against Seonghwa's lips, and Seonghwa just shakes his head.

"It's never felt like this before," he mumbles, and leans in to press another kiss to the corner of Hongjoong's lips. 

"I think I'm in love with you," Hongjoong says into the centimeters between them, and Seonghwa lets out a wet chuckle.

"I- I think I am, too," he confesses, and feels, rather than sees, Hongjoong's smile when he kisses him again. It doesn't taste hollow at all.

* * *

Social Services is waiting for them with a police car when they make it to the port. 

Seonghwa steps in front of Hongjoong, intent on defending him, but Hongjoong takes his hand, gently, and whispers a quiet  _ don't _ . What are two sixteen-year-olds going to do against them?

They take Hongjoong away, drive Seonghwa home, and he sits in the living room, numb, as his parents yell at him for scaring them, ground him for the rest of the summer. Seonghwa doesn't care, nothing matters anymore if Hongjoong isn't there with him.

He spends his days in his room, listening to the radio and staring at Hongjoong's drawing until his eyes sting. He goes out to the lawn, sits there, and rereads Hongjoong's letters. 

_ Love, Hongjoong _ , they say.  _ You can run away with me anytime you want. _

He gets a letter, one day, a proper one, in the mail, with a stamp and a proper envelope, and his name written in Hongjoong's clean handwriting at the top.

_ Dear Seonghwa _ , it reads, and Seonghwa feels his eyes well up with tears.  _ Thank you for running away with me, I'm sorry it didn't work out. I hope you're doing okay, and that your parents didn't yell too much at you. Social Services took me out of my foster mom's home after I told them she was being an ass, and now I'm staying with an elderly couple who live by the school. They are great and they let me do everything I want as long as I help out with the house chores and I go with Mrs Kim to the store on Saturday. Please come see me when you can, I'll be waiting in front of the school every day at three in the afternoon. I look forward to your reply. _

_ Loves you, _

_ Hongjoong _

_ P.S: You can still run away with me anytime you want, but let's maybe wait a couple of years. _

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, i hope it made sense!
> 
> find me on [Twitter](https://twitter/thewintersobber), bye!


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